Choose your love.... Love your choice






Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The day I waited for my whole life

Okay... here is the post I have been leading up to but I've been kind of stressed to start because I know its going to take a minute and I just don't know how to put this magical day into words. So... I woke up on May 10, 2011 at about 6:30a.m. You would think that I had woke up at that time to start getting ready but I actually woke up because I was about to throw up. Sure enough I ran into the bathroom and was puking my guts out. I started to panic. There was absolutely nothing and I mean NOTHING that was going to ruin this day for me. I ran upstairs to my parents room and got my Dad. I said, "Dad you have to give me a blessing RIGHT NOW." He of course agreed to this and I felt a little better but then nerves started to kick in. I started thinking in my head "what if Blake doesn't show up!!???" "What if he doesn't come?!?" haha don't ask me why this was going through my head but never-the-less, it was. My friend Courtney came over to my parents at the butt crack of dawn to do my hair. It turned out beautiful. I couldn't have been more happy with it. Blake came to pick my up at about 8:30 and we were on our way. We were suppose to be to the temple at 9 but on our way Blake said, "Oh yeah... I gotta get gas" haha at this moment I'm like "are you kidding me dude? you didn't think of that before?" haha oh well. Traffic didn't put up with us too well down town. There was a few detours, but we finally made it. They took us to go get ready. My mom went with me to help me get dressed. This was by far one of my most favorite parts of the day. I was able to get dressed in the beautiful brides room. Once I was all dressed they had me stand with my mom in this HUGE mirror and look at myself. This was such a tender moment for the both of us and I don't think I can ever forget the way I felt standing there. I cannot remember how long it had been since the last time that I had actually felt pretty, but at this moment... I felt beautiful. No one can ever take that away from me. This was such a special moment. After this I went to find my very soon to be husband. The temple workers took Blake and I into the celestial room where we were able to just sit for a few minutes. For me, I would say that these few minutes were some of the most special minutes that I have ever had with Blake. These few minutes are something that I will always treasure and keep sacred in my heart. It was such a beautiful thing. We then did a short veil and they took us in to be sealed for time and all eternity. When I walked in, I couldn't help but become emotional when I saw all of these people who are so close to me sitting in there. I became more emotional when I saw my 91 year old Grandma sitting in there. I knew that such a great sacrifice had been made for her to be there and I have never been more grateful. I was able to kneel with my incredible husband and make the most beautiful promises to him for eternity. I have never felt more complete or happy in my entire life. After we were sealed it was time for us to go out into the world as husband and wife. Mr. and Mrs. Blake Pando. It was so great to see the rest of my family and friends all outside supporting us. We took about a million pictures and then we went to the Lion House to have lunch with everyone. The food was absolutely delicious. We had some beautiful toasts from people and we were able to just sit back and soak in everything. After the luncheon we had to rush to Noah's (the reception center) in order to get everything ready and take all the pictures in time for the reception to start. It was definitely the most stressful part of the day but everything turned out so beautiful. It was exactly what I had pictured in my head and I am so grateful for the hundreds of hours that my mom put in in-order to make it absolutely perfect and exactly what I wanted. The reception was so great. I still cannot believe the support that we had. We had an incredible turn out and I am so grateful for everyone's love and support. After the reception Blake and I went to our new house to spend our first night there. It was so wonderful to be home and with my incredible husband. Our day was absolutely perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about it. All my life I have looked forward to the reception and even when I was planning the wedding I thought that the reception would by far be the funnest part, but I learned different. Nothing in this world and I mean NOTHING can beat the temple. I will always remember the way I felt that morning and how happy I was. I am so thankful that I did it that way.




Moab

This past weekend Blake and I were able to go with his family to moab for a few days. It was absolutely beautiful there and deathly HOT. On Saturday we were able to go with his parents to Zions National park and go check out some of the breath taking arches and other rocks. I have never been to see these before so it was great to finally be able to say that I've been there and seen it. We were also able to go on a river trip which was such a fun time. Blake and I decided that we wanted to take this canoe thing instead of stay in the raft which I am so glad we did. It made the trip so much more fun. It was definitely tough and a little scary in some spots but we had a lot of fun.


























Friday, June 24, 2011

The Beginning.

As a little girl I use to always dream of how MY wedding would be. One thing that I remember very distinctly from my childhood is that I never thought that I would live long enough first off to be in high school, second to get married, and third to have kids... and that always made me so sad. I truly thought that the world would end (the second coming would come) and that would be that. Well, so far I have lived to see two of those things come to life. I really want to share with everyone the way that this all came about. I feel that you all need to know that Blake and I were not just coincidence. I promise you that Heavenly Father had the stars perfectly aligned for us and although it hasn't always been perfect, I have known from the beginning that Blake was who I was going to be with and needed to be with forever. Lets start back in the fall of 2009.
For those of you who knew me back in 2009, you know that I went through a very heart breaking, tragic time in my life. You may be wondering why I would bring that up but this part in my life was crucial to the plan; and although I did not know it at the time, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. A few weeks later, my mom was having a picture party at our house and was sending out flyer's. For some reason, she ended up taking a flyer to the Inkley's house who she was not acquainted with. She only knew that one of my sisters friends had married their son. It was a very random thing to do on her part but this was the next crucial part. The Inkley's ended up coming to my mom's picture party which I feel was somewhat random. Not a lot of people respond to random flyer's haha. When they came we talked about their son Bryant. He had just recently returned from his mission and he and I use to be friends. After that party, Bryant and I got in contact with each other. Now... this is where my sweetheart comes into the picture.
Sunday, November 22, 2009. This day will forever be known as the hardest day of my life. I was feeling heartbroken, useless, and like there was absolutely no meaning to my life. I have never felt more low. I remember getting on my knees and just praying. (praying and bawling). I was so sick. I had my Dad give me a fathers blessing to try and comfort my broken heart, that some how, some way, I would be able to heal. That night, I had just woken up from a long sleep. I decided to get on Facebook. There was a friend request from Blake Pando as well as a message. It said "what's up? Do you remember me?" Of course I replied. I hadn't talked to him since I was in middle school so it was interesting. The next couple responses were followed up with, "Would you like to go out with me?".... Now let me preface here... I had been asked out on a few dates in weeks prior to this and every time I said that I wasn't interested or wasn't ready to be dating again, but for some reason this time was different. To this day I still don't have an answer about why I agreed to go out with him. I honestly don't know. For whatever reason it was the best decision that I have ever made in my entire life and I am so grateful for each and every day that I have spent with my best friend.

And I wouldn't change a thing.
I'd walk right back through the rain,
back to every broken heart on the day that it was breaking.
And I'd re-live all the years,
and be thankful for the tears,
I cried with every stumbled step that led to you,
and got me here.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Bridals

Okay Everyone!!! GO me!! I'm to my bridals haha so I'm only like two and a half months behind. The day was gorgeous! It was also one of the craziest days too (self inflicted of course.) That morning I had my "friend" bridal shower. It was such a blast and I got some sexy lingerie and some other good stuff. It was so great to see some of my most favorite people that I don't get to see very much anymore. After the bridal shower I had to hurry to try and get ready for my bridals. My fabulous and beautiful Maide of Honor (my Niece Aubree) helped me do my hair. It turned out so pretty. We were running out of time because I had to go to my kids dance competition. (I call the girls I teach my kids. It gets people confused a lot haha). Since I hadn't done my make-up yet I made Aubree drive me to the competition where I was able to see all of my dances. They did fabulous! No more than an hour and a half later we had to get running again to go get my dress and what not and be out to the salt flats in time to take pictures. The pictures went fabulous. I had such a fun time and was so grateful that my wonderful niece would stick by me throughout the whole day. I seriously could not have done it without her.